Falcon *Merlin catches starling "Warning Nature at it's rawest" YouTube 

Mad respect for not recording vertical 👏🏿

What a beautiful bird the Merlin is and the magpies were trying to scare it away so they could steal the starling for themselves.

Great footage, sir. You're very lucky to witness this in your own front garden (yard).

Merlin falcon ridding our environment of an invasive species. Starlings are an invasive species in North America and are extremely hard on other native bird species in terms of the starlings very aggressive nesting behavior. Glad to see another starling bite the dust. Starlings are also very hard on many fruit crops. Thank you Merlin falcon. Magpies want to eat the dead starling and Merlin would have killed it quickly without the magpie intrusion.

That falcon is a professional killer, it was concentrating on the position of the hart and repeatedly piercing that same place aided the quick death of its prey. Amazing clips.

Had the magpies not been bothering it, that starling would have been dispatched much more quickly. Unlike sharp-shinned or cooper's hawks, a falcon (like this merlin) has a notch on its beak called a tomial tooth. Its sole purpose is to sever the spines of prey. You saw how the merlin kept biting the starling's neck - that's what it was going for. A sharp-shin or cooper's would have gone for the guts first and just started eating the starling alive.

Those magpies were not coming to the starling's defense. They wanted to shoo away the falcon to eat it themselves.

It is indeed a Merlin, a small falcon with the scientific name of Falco columbarius (which should be in Italics, but the RU-vid comments does not support italics). It is a dark colored subspecies of Merlin, the black Merlin that nests in the northwestern U.S. and southwestern Canada, but can be found farther east in the winter when it migrates to the south and east. The Black-billed Magpies were trying to bully the Merlin to abandon its prey so the could have it instead. The Merlin would have killed the Starling faster by biting its neck and severing the vetebral nerves if the magpies hadn't been bothering it.

Very lucky to have Merlins in your area .

Nature can be cruel some times, but look at that stunning bird

Thank you for not interfering. A lot of idiots would've went out there and scared the predator away and robbed it of it's hard earned meal.

That's definitely a merlin you can tell by its call and small stature. Nice catch 👍

You did a great job filming that. Super cool to witness such a thing.

Cool video and thanks for uploading it for us all to see. I stay in Glasgow (SCOTLAND) and we have loads of birds of prey and Deer and Badgers near and of course the old Suburban Fox. Yeah I liked your video and well done for adding no music and just playing the video as you recorded it. Nice 1 my friend

I have a ball python and for some reason it wouldn't eat a weanling rat I bought it. It was in there for a whole day so the next morning I took it out and threw it in the backyard. My house is surrounded by a bunch of trees. I looked up because I heard some birds squawking. I looked harder and saw this big hawk that was facing the birds but had its back towards me. He turned around and looked down. By the way he was looking, I knew he spotted the rat. It being bright white in field of green and brown grass didn't help it to hide either...lol. I knew what was about to happen and was about to turn and go get my phone to record it, but just then the hawk did a DiveBomb. It looked like a bomb being dropped from a plane, and it stayed like that until almost close to the ground. Then at the last second, it spread its wings to fly horizontal to the ground and snatched the rat up so quickly I barely saw him grab it. It flew away with the rat and into the woods with the other birds chasing it. I thought it was going to just grab the rat there and eat it, but to see how it went from vertical to horizontal to grab the mouse without missing a beat or slowing down was Amazing. Nature at its best.

Starlings are in no danger of going extinct...they are major pests...also they are nest robbers of songbirds

not hawk, but falcon

that hawk looking over its shoulder like a gangster...

Amazing footage. Earlier this year outside our gates, we saw a hawk kill a squirrel .Nature is tough.

Brilliant Footage

Awesome Video Sir! Very much enjoyed it.

Is not easy, but is nature. I think Falcons are beautiful raptors

1:17 killing blow. Watch the bird gasp for air. Beautiful!

It’s a female merlin as a falconer I’ve had many of which I’ve hunted with however your lucky to have witnessesed nature close up excellent video big thumbs up👍

Merlin's my favourite little falcon, quite rare in the British isles you have to go to the Moors to see them starlings have become almost non existent as well.

We have a Merlin falcon currently nesting near a strip mall in our city. She’s vicious! The sidewalk has been closed off. This bird is actually picking humans and hospitalizing them with minor scratches

It's quite astounding to me that so many have made a down vote of this video. I do understand it's old but, still, this is nature in all it's gory glory. Nature is cruel.

Screw the Starling. They cause problems for other birds.

A hawk killed a dove outside my window one morning and tore off its feathers on its belling and ate it alive. That was quite shocking to see. I always imagined they kill them on impact or at least kill them before eating them. Such is nature.

The zoom tho! Nice shots sir.

Amazing video

Like my sister said to me when we both were small, "You're not s'posed to do that!"

Maybe I'm just out of the loop when it comes to camera quality these days but damn thats one hell of a zoom...I kept expecting the resolution so suffer.

well a starling is an invasive species

Its a Merlin Falcon

I wish I could buy one of these Falcons for the starlings we have here. They destroy our purple martins nests and babies.

I lived in Kelowna British Columbia for four years in the first year I had hardly seen any birds to tell you the truth. Sparrows and crows of course, few hawks and falcons. But when those starling came it was like an explosion of predatory populations. At first, I might’ve seen one or two eagles about every month same goes with hawks and Falcons. I would spend over 8 hours a week driving through the country mind you, but after those starlings showed up, in huge numbers… I have never seen more falcons,hawks, eagles and magpies. My theory is that I would see magpies more often while I drive because Starlin’s would become roadkill so often, but it’s my hope that because of all these starlings, that are moderately sized and less manoeuvrable than smaller songbirds that predatory birds have had an easier time taking them down. A bird that is more nutritionally substantial than a small songbird yet not as energy intensive as taking down a pigeon or seagull. I know it might upset people for me to say this, and I don’t blame them, but starlings aren’t going anywhere, they’re here to stay and at this point I think all we can do is hope that nature and our continents native species can withstand the uprise in starling numbers until other natural predatory species can rise to the occasion and acquire a taste for these beautiful yet destructive birds

That's the first one that I have seen put a killing bite on the neck. Pretty smart if you ask me. All the other I have seen are more concerned with plucking feathers and not killing it and therefore sometimes they get away.

I saw a pigeon trying to eat a chicken wing. The pigeon was prob a falcon in disguise

I rescued a Starling from a Kestral.....no way was I going let a little animal die on my watch. I think people who can rescue a little animal from a horrible death but choose to do nothing lack humanity.

Great video

One more thing to note .. falcons dispatch there quarry by snapping the neck as quick as possible because they can’t risk breaking there long flight feathers, hawks on the other hand have short wings designed for the rough and tumble on the floor and therefore much hardier than a falcon, they also hold there prey down and eat it alive unlike the falcon which will break the neck almost instantaneously.

These videos have shown that smaller birds of prey lack the ability to quickly dispatch their prey. If their initial attack with their talons fails to kill their prey , there is often a prolonged struggle with the raptor continually tearing bits off the prey until the prey dies of shock.

A adult Peregrine Falcon

I don't think you can say you have empathy, if you don't feel sorry for the little bird, but I always try to remember that these birds are all opportunists, and even that starling will eat the babies of other animals, or tiny animals, if it has the opportunity. At the same time, the Hawk may have babies to feed, and one day, it is likely that the Hawk will also be eaten by something. Maybe it gets too old, or gets injured, and another predator sees its weakness, and jumps on the opportunity at a meal. Maybe a Owl, or Eagle, or Fox, or even an ordinary house cat.

Starlings are great mimics. I had one as a pet. Something got him but i hope he did not die this way.

merlin great fighter

Starlings are invasive so it's good to see the circle of life at work

No offense, but this reminds me of a budget David Attenbourough(not sure of spelling) doc! 😀

amazing. I only get cats fcking in my front yard. usually in the middle of the night. it's so annoying hearing the damn noises they make when they bone.

Starling's are a real pest.

The magpies aren't there to help, they want a cheap meal.

Those starlings are too numerous. I put food in my feeder and the starlings and grackles show up in huge numbers and chase away all the songbirds and other favorable birds. The starlings spill all of the seed onto the ground while they eat only the good nuts and seeds from the feeder. The feeder will be emptied onto the ground in 10 minutes or less when these birds show up. I wish these European starlings had never been introduced to North America.

Can't kill enough of those starlings

That's a beautiful video sir, poor birds trying to save the Falcons prey...

Magpies hate hawks or any predatory bird they were defending the starling not knowingly they just wanted the hawk gone and it’s more of the starling and magpie have the same enemy

Falcons, this one is a merlin, kill relatively quickly by severing the spinal cord.

Damn he open up its windpipe

Magpies were there to take it..

Animal's don't get their food prepped for them like we do,they have to do it themselves!!!!!!!!

once saw a redtailed hawk take down a magpie because they wouldn't stop pestering her, nature is metal!

for "nature at its rawest", theres a vid of a cheetah tearing the guts out of a live baby antelope, while the antelope is crying for help.. all in close up 4K no less. I couldn't finish that one, too much...

I found falcons break prey's neck first to kill quickly, whereas hawks mostly use only feet.

Starlings are a HORRIBLE invasive species.. why would you want to save it? Blows my mind. Those dang magpie trying to get in on the falcon's hard work, LOL

It hooked it. It breaks its wind pipe. It dies. We watch and marvel, mixed with a little indignation. But so are God's works, and they are good.

Amazing footage, great documentary.

Very good video.

Those Magpies separated the falcon or hawk from the food in the and I bet.

You must be up there by seattle

My security camera has captured a merlin taking down sparrows, finches and even pigeons at extreme close range. The prey birds perch on an electrical wire inches from the camera. I only see the strike and then it's out of view. I didn't really want to watch this video, but I felt that i had to, to know how the merlin finishes the task.

Magpies are corvids related to crows and ravens. As others have said here they wanted to eat the bird themselves now that the Merlin has done all the hard work

Starlings invading species of birds , falcons are there to keep them in check

I would've liked to see the Hawk deal a killing blow, but it appears that it crushed the starling to death with its talons.

Wel if it wasn't bothered by the magpies the kill was much faster. Plus the magpies were hoping for a easy meal...

Man you can see it choking on its last few breaths....

Watched a lot of videos of Hawks predating other birds. I don't think I have seen any bird fight for its life, like a Magpie.

Starlings are invasive from Europe. Worst bird ever! I shed no tears over this video.

That's not a starling. It's a baby magpie

Im glad you mentioned the African plains , because this was right in your front yard not in the African plains where it really is the wild. In the city- if you want - you can interfere

Stop calling it a hawk. Merlins are falcons

Falcons are fast killers,this merlin is at the same size of a sparrowhawk,but the latter is a nadty slow killer causing slow painful death for his victims

About time you painted that fence!

There is a difference between Merlins from North America and Europe. European specimens hunt exclusively in open habitat like meadows and bogs, but never ever in a backyard. They avoid Human settlements like villages and cities.

Magpies moving like British police.

Damn nature, you scary!

Magpies express empathy

Please bring that handsome hawk here. I HATE starlings! Invasive obnoxious DESTRUCTIVE birds! So many fat starlings for him to eat where I'm at! 😂

I hate starlings. Wonderful video.

I wish I had Merlin's catching starlings on my lawn

Knowing that your neighbor yard grass is fresher then yours

Seeing this makes me feel less bad for the hawk I hit with my truck.

sparrow hawk

Past time to paint the fence.

They are both fighting for their lives.

Those kindly magpies, coming to the defence of the starling.

Kya ya shikar ki death sy phly chor dyta hia agr owner chahy

superb video ! well caught

I can't get past that awful looking fence. Please paint it!

Like all the predator birds such as eagles, hawks, kites, the falcons have claws that hold its prey like a mechanical vice grip.... the preys such as other birds, snakes, rodents, etc are certainly doomed....

Its a falcon, not a hawk. Amazing, very fast, agile hunters.